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By Jack Groat - 5 Years Ago
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I am doing a 292 rebuild. The junkyard engine I purchased the heads were badly rusted, like the valves were seized in the bores. No problem, I will use aluminum heads. So, I pitched the cast iron heads.
I called John Mummert a few days back and told him I am ready to order my aluminum heads.
His answer was, "I don't have any".
OK, when will you have some??
Don't know, I have no castings.
Have you ordered more castings?
No..
When are you going to order more castings?
Don't know.. He would not commit to any timing.
OK guys. Whoever knows John well, can you help me build a fire under this one? I know he is busy and I have no idea how much time and effort goes into a foundry pour. I am totally dead in the water without those heads. I can't be the only one in the country who needs a set of those heads.
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By DryLakesRacer - 5 Years Ago
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I believe Edelbrock pours them for him and does a lot of preliminary machining. 2 years ago I was over in Torrance for a tour with a group of guys a there were a pallet full of them and the guy giving the tour looked at me and said "I bet you know who those are for". If those are all gone the hold up may be there. I believe the foundry in in San Jacinto about 60 mile southeast of Torrance.
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By Jack Groat - 5 Years Ago
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If any of you out there are thinking about buying some aluminum heads in the future, would you give John a call and ask innocently about the lead time for a set when you order.
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By paul2748 - 5 Years Ago
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If you decide to go with iron heads, I have a "G" set for sale. Looks to be uncut, not posted.
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By 62bigwindow - 5 Years Ago
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This is why I chose to use a Blue Thunder intake. When I called to get one from John he was out. I waited a few weeks but it got to the point my project was being held up. I respect John for all he has done for our beloved engine but, would a little bit of inventory really be that bad? How many sales has he lost due to this?
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By Ted - 5 Years Ago
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In John’s defense, sales are outstripping the number of castings he receives. He would love nothing better than have parts on the shelf all the time and simply ship as orders for them comes in. Unfortunately there’s a waiting list and until the foundry situation changes, John will be behind in fulfilling orders. The defect rate is high on received castings and that simply compounds the supply problem.
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By Jack Groat - 5 Years Ago
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I just got off the phone with John. I finally got him to commit to timing for those heads. HE SAID 6 - 8 MONTHS.
I am posting this just so everybody knows what he said. I will now stop searching ads for cast iron heads. By the time I found some cast iron heads, had them reconditioned and milled and maybe ported, found springs and valves, it would probably be 6-8 months.
So here I sit, marking days off my calendar.
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By slumlord444 - 5 Years Ago
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Glad I bought mine several years back. The wait time was long then but I was in no hurry at the time. Too bad this is a problem. There is definately a market for them. Didn't know he doesn't have intakes. I have allways planed on trying one to replace my factory e manifold to see how it runs.
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By Joe-JDC - 5 Years Ago
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slumlord444 (6/30/2019)
Glad I bought mine several years back. The wait time was long then but I was in no hurry at the time. Too bad this is a problem. There is definately a market for them. Didn't know he doesn't have intakes. I have allways planed on trying one to replace my factory e manifold to see how it runs.
I have flowed the ECZ-B intake stock, and it averages ~184 cfm, and I have ported a couple to average ~265-266 cfm. Not easy. The Mummert intakes that I have flowed stock are in the 270-271 cfm range, with the earliest batch averaging ~275cfm. Of the BT-1, BT-2, BT-3 intakes that I have flowed, they have been averaging 278-279 cfm stock. The latest BT-4 intake that I flowed had the #7 port with a lot of slag that needed to be cartridge rolled out, to get the flow back up. Joe-JDC
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By pegleg - 5 Years Ago
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Ted
John, nor I ever believed the volume of sales for these parts would be anything like it's become. I never thought the market for the "F" code parts would be more than 10 or 12
And I thought it would dry up in a couple years. That was 15 years ago!!
Edelbrock does not exhibit the same quality for customer work that they do for their own parts. Makes it tough on John. Finding a quality Aluminum Foundry that charges reasonable prices and quality levels in this country is almost impossible today. Thank you China, Taiwan, and previous American Administrations that allowed this to happen.
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By charliemccraney - 5 Years Ago
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And outsourcing to those foreign countries usually means that the product you worked so hard to develop will soon be available to anyone who wants to pay.
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By Jack Groat - 5 Years Ago
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I mentioned to John in a phone conversation that I worked for a company (retired in 2007) that had an aluminum foundry in Wabash, IN. They made production aluminum intake manifolds and aluminum heads including heads for Dart Industries. I am sure they would insist on making all new tooling and not take somebody else's tooling. Since they are an OEM manufacturer their prices would probably be a little high. Probably worth a phone call.
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By charliemccraney - 5 Years Ago
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I think one reason he uses Edelbrock is proximity, to avoid shipping costs.
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